Nabil Shaath

(1938 - )

Born 1938 Safed.
Became Egyptian citizen 1965. Dr. Shaath is married with four children.

Studied in Alexandria, Egypt
Ph.D. Wharton School of Economics, University of Pennsylvania

Dr. Shaath returned to Cairo from the United States
in 1965. In 1969, he went to Lebanon to teach at the American University in Beirut. Salaam
Fayyad and Muhammad Dahlan were at also at AUB during those years. Shaath worked as an industry
consultant and management trainer (heading a company called TEAM) in Algeria, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Lebanon.
He also taught at the American University in Beirut.

He joined PLO in 1970 and served as an adviser to Fatah from 1971. Dr. Shaath became the head of the PLO Planning Centre 1971
- 1981. He is credited as being the founder of the Democratic State
approach. In 1974, Dr. Shaath accompanied Arafat in the first PLO delegation to the United
Nations and headed the first Palestinian delegation to the UN.
He serves as chair of Palestinian National Council political committee.

From 1994 until his appointment in the cabinet of Abu
Mazen, Dr. Shaath has been the Palestinian
Authority's Minister of Planning and International Cooperation.
He is a member of the Fatah Central Committee.

Dr. Shaath is a highly educated, western-style Palestinian
politician, with close ties to Arafat,
Israel and the United States. He has been said to be "the real
power behind (Arafat's) thrown". While Arafat has been sequestered
in Ramallah for the last few years, Dr. Shaath has been free to travel
and has done so on Arafat's behalf.

He is a frequent visitor to the United States' State
Department, and was the secret Palestinian representative to Prince
Abdullah in Riyadh in 2002 for creation of the "Saudi
Plan" for peace.

Dr. Shaath is wealthy although the country that employs
him is virtually bankrupt. Dr. Shaath has his own business enterprises
around the Arab world, but his wealth and connections caused the Palestinian
Legislative Assembly, in 1997, to publicly demand Dr. Shaath be removed
from power, indicted for gross corruption, and penalized with imprisonment.
In Aug. 1998, a commission found evidence of criminal corruption. Yet,
Dr. Shaath remained in power and has been given another position in
the newly formed Palestinian Authority.

Dr. Shaath is a savvy politician who is at home in
the western political sphere, and he remains a favorite of Washington's.
However, he is unpopular at home due to the perception of corruption
and a lack of passion for two ideas held dear by many Palestinians:
the right of return and the right of refugees in refugee camps. Dr.
Shaath also has a reputation for arrogance.

In a Lateline interview with the Australian Broadcasting
Corporation, Dr. Shaath perpetuated the myth
that there was a massacre at the Jenin refugee camp by using terms
like "…absolutely horrifying…" and making comparisons
to the devastation in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Moreover, the interview
provides a glimpse into Dr. Shaath's seething hostility towards Ariel
Sharon.